Mr. Randall advises, by inference, of
course, that we make all the noise Ave
gol-blained please on that day, but sug
gests that Dad attend to the touching off
of the crackers and other fireworks, thus
lessening the danger of property destruc
tion by fire and the sudden amputation of
digits and -whole hands by premature ex
plosions. Being quite as much interested
in noise making on the Glorious Fourth
as any boy in the country, we doff our
hat to Fire Commissioner Ilandall and
hail him as a wisehead deserving of the
commendation of every American boy in
whose veins runs red blood.
Orahame White, the aviator, is going
to the coronation ball in his aeroplane. -That
is just where Grahame differs from
us in methods of conveyance. lie goes
in his aeroplane we go in a horn.
A farm hand in Pawnee county, being
refused the hand of the daughter of the
man for whom he worked, delberately
killed the whole family, save the girl,
following this up by killing the sheriff
who tried to. arrest him and then som
mitting suicide. It was a horrible affair.
But Ave are not prepared to throw all the
blame on the murderer. It seems that
for a year or more he had paid court to
the daughter without opposition from
the parents until he asked for her hand
in marriage. This was refused, where
upon followed the tragedy. Not having
any daughters of courtship age we can
not say exactty what we would do under
similar circumstances, but we rather
opine that any man unworthy of our
daughter's hand in marriage would not
be allowed to come a-courting for a year
or more. A whole lot of misery is being
caused by the damphoolishness of the
fathers and mothers of daughters bud
ding into womanhood. After mature
delileration we have come to the con
clusion that one of the imperative needs
of this country is a school for the educa
tion of parents, with a law compelling
attendance.
They make good everywhere Nebras
ka Ih3s, we mean. Now comes William
F. Wilbur, born and reared in Omaha,
who graduates from the Ames, la., State
College at the head of a class )f 229 in
the engineering course. Not only that,
but he has the. highest averages aniong
the leaders of graduates in the nine other
departments of the school. You simply
can not head them off, those Nebraska
born boys. They get the impulse with the
first breath of Nebraska air they breathe,
and it is developed with the sustenance
they draw from the breasts of their splen
did Nebraska mothers, Time was when
"westward the Star of Empire took its
way." No more. The Star of Empire is
fixed insofar as this republic is concern
ed. Every Nebraska-born boy can, by
looking up, see it. immediately overhead.
Carrier Nation is dead peace to her
ashes! We are proud of the fact that
never in all our multiplied, writings have
Ave written one word is disparagement of
this motherly old woman, misguided
though she may have been; nor have we
ever referred to her in jest. While w
never had any patience with her methods,
we had the utmost contempt for the al
leged newspaper Avits Avho saw in the
actions of this motherly old woman sub
jects for ribald jests. She should have
been restrained by her . relatives and
friends instead of being allowed to roam
at large. But she was not, therefore she
should have been treated with the respect
and consideration due to. womanhood and
age, instead of being cartooned and lam
pooned by scribblers who found it easiei
to earn their miserable stipends by. using
her as a subject than to earn it by chas
ing down real news or -writing' about
topics worth while.
Once more have we turned our back
upon an opportunity to acquire sordid
wealth. Again have we refrained from
jumping at the chance to add largely to
our rather slim bank account. Nor Avere
Ave coppelled to exert ourselves to the ut
most to successfully refrain from suc
cumbing to the tempter. An advertising
agency in Kansas, City that of W. L.
Witmer- made us a gorgeous offer,
but strangling our impulse to acquire
sudden wealth Ave bid Satan get behind
us, and he got. With a . generosity un
usual in this day and age of the world
the aforesaid Witmer offered us a medi
cal advertisement, three inches', double
column, expressing a willingness to pay
us the munificent sum of .$18 if we ran
it eighteen months, the aforesaid $18 to
be taken out in rarious kinds of junk,
mostly out-of-date type faces. We could
have taken the advertisement, run it eigh
teen months without change, and then, if
Ave got the junk at all, might have traded
it off for a dog and then shot the dog. But
Ave refrained. We call the Witmer offer
"generous," but Ave mean it sarcastic.
An ad of that size run in "Will Maupin's
Weekly for eighteen months would haTe
to bring into our coffers five times the
amount offered by Witmer and in cash
payable every month. And the advertise
ment offered by the aforesaid Witmer
couldn't get into the columns of Will
Maupin's Weekly at any price. We merely
quoted a price to the AVitmer person foi
the purpose of discouraging future offers
from that source.
AATe have been watching the Omaha
papers carefully for the past ten or tvelve
days, hoping to see some editorial ex
pression concerning Judge Estelle's de
cision in the case of tlie Omaha parties
charged with violating the female em
ployment law. To date Ave have seen
nothing. Nor were we able to discover
even a news' item in a couple of the Oma
ha dailies informing the world what
Judge Estelle's decision Avas. Of course
the mere matter of upholding a statute
designed to protect the womanhood o the
state is of little consequence beside such
gigantic .matters as the revolution in
Mexico, the coronation of King George,
the latest flying machines and other
grave matters that have received editorial
attention, but Ave insist that it is of some
concern quite enough to entitle it to a
small measure of publicity. Judge
Estelle's opinion is to the effect that it is
better to protect the future mothers of the
race than it is to cater to "big business"
interests. It may be that this is an ex
planation of Avhy the decision received
such scant attention at the hand of the
metropolitan press.
The death of George AV. E. Dorsey at
Salt Lake removes another Nebraska
pioneer, and one of the now almost for
gotten school of politicians. Personally
Mr. Dorsey was one of the most lov
able of men, and in his prime performed
great service in the development of Ne
braska. As a politician he belonged to
that school Avhich deemed anything to
Avin perfectly justifiable. His "have
manufacturers quote lower prices" tele
gram in the congressional campaign of
1890 Avas one of the greatest political
jokes ever uncovered.' After being de
feated for congress in that year Mr. Dor
sey retired to private life and spent his
time in loking after his large mining
interests. For several. years he has been
a resident of Salt Lake.
If the Omaha school board declines to
make Miss Kate McIIugh principal of
the Omaha high school simply because
she is a woman, then the Omaha board of
education ought to be submit their col
lectiAre heads to a specialist to see if an
augur AA'ould bring up anything but bone
shavings. Miss McIIugh has the experi
ence, the education and the tact to fill
the place acceptably. To deny the de
" served promotion because she is a woman
is unthinkable. Ella Flagg Young's work
as superintendent of schools in Chicago
has put a quietus on the talk that women
are not competent because of their sex, to
superintend the schools of a great city.
As long as speed maniacs kill only
themselves Ave are , not going to waste
any time in sympathizing Avith thejn. The
quicker the speed maniac is killed the
safer the public will be. It is the speed
maniac Avho kills the innocent pedestrain
that ought to be haled into court and
cinched a plenty.
AVe 'have Avaited a long time, and our
patience has been rewarded. The cry of
the "widows and the orphans" is now
heard above the turmoil of trust prosecu
tions. It does beat all how many widows"
and orphans manage to get hold of stock
in concerns that defy the law."
The Nebraska railway commission
should have tied a string to its permission
o the Missouri Pacific to issue $ 20,000,
003 worth "of notes for improvements.
Not less than $15,000,000 of that amount
should have been ordered expended in Nebraska,
